Moreland Open Space Fund a shambolic commitment to environment and ratepayers says Residents Assoc

MELBOURNE, Australia - Oct. 1, 2017 - PRLog -- Moreland residents would be well advised to visit the area zoned Public Parks & Recreation adjacent to the Merri Creek in Fawkner before it's bulldozed for development as an example of council's shambolic commitment to open space and the environment said Fawkner Residents Association Mr Joe Perri.

What has occurred in Fawkner is a very real and poignant wake-up call to all residents throughout Moreland that the 'quick buck' and supporting developers is council's preferred option to preserving parks, nature and combatting climate change said Mr. Perri.

Especially residents in the high density southern suburbs clinging to the illusion that Moreland Council will deliver significant parks and recreational areas in the future from the $40M Open Space Contributions Fund that has been collected from developers so far.

More than that it exposes Moreland Council's inadequate planning process that should have responded immediately to overdevelopment and liveability needs by securing areas suitable for open space years ago in suburbs such as Brunswick when the cost of real estate was lower.

If failure to secure open space wasn't bad enough in one of area of the municipality, just a few kilometres north of Brunswick in the suburb of Fawkner, in December 2015 Vic Roads, (owners of the zoned parkland adjacent to iconic Merri Creek) advised Moreland Council it was 'surplus land' and offered it to Council for purchase for the benefit of the Municipality.

But as the 'landlocked' park with no roadway access was incomprehensibly valued in the 'millions of dollars' Council declined to do so.

A further disconcerting revelation is that the commercial/development viability of the area required council's support to transform two blocks that face residential streets into roadways to access the area.

"If Council's stated objective for the Open Space Contribution is 'to maintain existing public open spaces and to create new public open spaces' – then it is clearly doing neither except enjoying the bounty of a rapidly expanding pool of funds", continued Mr Perri.

The Fawkner Residents Association is convinced the loss of parkland is only the first stage of a bigger plan to develop much more of the open space along the Merri Creek that will deny Moreland residents natural open space and parkland.

Mr Perri concluded by inviting all Moreland residents to travel to Fawkner and enjoy the tranquillity of the park; nature's flora, fauna, the creek itself and views of the Melbourne skyline before the arrival of the heavy machinery that will destroy the area forever and deny future generations of the same opportunity.

Issued by the Fawkner Residents Association

Media enquiries:          Mr. Joe Perri
        Mobile:          +61 412 112 545
        Email:          joe.perri1@gmail.com